Choosing between “delay” or “postpone” can be tough because they are very close words. They both are about moving times. Natives use these words all the time, so you should do, too. What are the differences between delay or postpone?
Delay is about pushing time past expectations
“Past expectation” is important here. Someone will almost always be disappointed or angry when you delay something. If you delay something, this means that the schedule was broken.
Our flight has been delayed by two hours.
= I expected to get on the plane at 4pm, but they changed it to 6pm.
I’m sorry. I am going to delay the meeting by 15 minutes.
= We were going to have our meeting at 4:00, but it will be 15 after we expected, 4:15.
You should notice the words of late items if you buy anything from online shopping. They will always say “delay” if there is an issue. It is like they are saying “we wanted to give it to you earlier, but something went wrong, so your order is later than we wanted.” They will never say “postpone.”
Postpone is about changing the schedule
This word differs from “delay” because it is only about changing the planned schedule. That’s it. Everyone is on the same page when you postpone something. Otherwise, there is only one person involved with the decision to change the time. No promise gets broken, and no one’s feelings get hurt because “postpone” is about modifying the official schedule. The schedule does not get broken.
The company came to the decision to postpone the release of their new computer.
= The company’s release schedule has changed the day they plan to sell their new computer.
I cannot keep waiting until I graduate to look for a job. I can’t postpone my life forever.
= I do not want to prevent my life from continuing by changing my plan to start my career always.
Adjectives compared: delayed, postponed, late
You may know a very common adjective, late. How does that compare with these new words?
delayed: expected earlier but it did not happen at the right time
It is important that women make healthy choice when they are pregnant because they child can experience delayed development.
= The child can have problems with the body or brain where they grow after the normal time that doctors expect.
postponed: having a modified schedule
We needed to find a private room to have our postponed conversation.
= We planned to have a conversation, but we decided to not have the conversation until we were alone.
late: arriving after the planned time OR happening at a time close to the end
I am sorry I was late to the meeting.
= I am sorry I arrived after the official start time.
He was the king in the late 13th century.
= He was king at some time between 1250 and 1299.
Summary
- delay: to change something to the time after people expected
- postpone: to change the schedule and choose a later time
- late: (adjective) not coming early
Now, you can effectively talk about changing the time of your plans in English. You can disappoint people more easily in English!
Hopefully, you will not need to delay your plans or postpone important things, but you should at least know when to use them.
You can find more English language content on my blog.
On my YouTube channel, you can find videos about my personal journey with language learning.
Don’t delay your English learning anymore! Keep on learning!
